PFUJ condemns harassment of journalists

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has strongly condemned the harassment of media persons by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers and some officials. In a statement issued on Friday, the President of PFUJ Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary General Nasir Zaidi regretted that the PTI workers openly threatened the journalists during Imran Khan’s workers address in Lahore.
Both the leaders expressed concern over PTI workers not letting Geo News reporter put his mic on the podium, preventing him from covering the event. “This flies in the face of Imran Khan’s claims that he respects the freedom of expression and the journalist fraternity as well. Such an attitude amounts to creating hatred against the media persons, which may have catastrophic impact on the society.”
The PFUJ leaders observed that the PTI workers are not only preventing Geo News and other channels from covering their events, “but the social media brigade of the PTI has also been hurling abuses at female journalists, carrying out their character assassination and hurling allegations at them without any concrete evidence.”
The two leaders bemoaned the attitude of PTI leadership that according to them seems to be ignoring these fascist tactics. “The attitude is very disappointing and does not suit to a party that claims to uphold democratic norms.”
They also condemned the officials who reportedly harassed senior journalist Arshad Sharif. “Such harassment must be stopped immediately and the government should take action against those officials who were involved in harassing Arshad Sharif.”
“We also urge all the political parties to follow democratic traditions and respect the rights of citizens as well as media persons,” they added.